Undeterred, I began spot-checking some running quarterbacks from earlier years. Tobin Rote? No. Bobby Layne? No. Otto Graham? Ah-hah. And here’s the kicker: The Browns’ Hall of Famer did it in the 1954 championship game against Layne’s Lions. Otto threw for TDs of 35, 8 and 31 yards and ran for scores of 1, 5 and 1 as Cleveland clobbered Detroit, 56-10.

Graham, who expects to wind up his grid activity with the Hula and Pro Bowl games next month, re-established himself as the No. 1 man at his position with his passing and running. Otto, an insurance man and part owner of a commercial sales business in the off-season, ran with all the enthusiasm of his collegiate days at Northwestern on his three scoring bursts.

The 33-year-old T-master sneaked a foot for Cleveland’s third touchdown, went five yards around his own right end on a bootleg for the fourth. He opened the second-half scoring with another plunge from the one-foot line, which killed off any slight hope remaining for the sizable Detroit aggregation on hand to see the Lions bid for an unprecedented third straight pro title.

That’s the other thing. This was supposed to be Graham’s last game. He’d already announced his intention to retire. But he changed his mind the following summer and led the Browns to one last title. In that championship game, against the Rams, he only passed for three touchdowns and rushed for two.

Anyway, it’s comforting to know an NFL quarterback has matched Knight’s feat, even if it was 60 years ago.